learning and connectivism in moocs
DESCRIPTION
In this presentation I examine the phenomenon of MOOCs as I see them, explaining how they result from and support an understanding of the world based in pattern recognition. The presentation is structured along the lines of the six major elements of the underlying literacies of network interaction. For audio and video please see http://www.downes.ca/presentation/347TRANSCRIPT
Learning andConnectivism in MOOCs
Stephen Downes
Pereira, Colombia11 September 2014
http://www.downes.ca/presentation/347
How I See the World
How I See the WorldA connectivist perspective
The World- People, things,
ideas, concepts, all connected to each otherMy Brain
- Neurons and neural connections
Perception and Communication- The world speaks to me and I
speak to the world
How I See the WorldThe MOOC
MOOC- A learning network
My Brain- Neurons and neural
connections
Perception and Communication
How I See the WorldPerception and Communication
Image: http://devblogs.nvidia.com/parallelforall/cuda-spotlight-gpu-accelerated-deep-neural-networks/
How I See the WorldThe Critical Literacies
SyntaxNot just rules and grammar
Forms: archetypes? Platonic ideals?Rules: grammar = logical syntaxOperations: procedures, motor skillsPatterns: regularities, substitutivitySimilarities: Tversky properties, etc‐
Image: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?author=1
SyntaxLearning Theories: trying to find patterns in phenomena - Behaviourism – learning & practice
- Instructivism – learning from worked examples, testing
- Cognitivist – the importance of models and comprehension
- Constructivist – creating our own learning
Image: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?author=1
SyntaxNetworks and Connections in the World
- The way things are organized in the world is important
- A pile of sand is different from a sand castle
- We observe individual entities self-organizing
- These form complex networks from the brain to galaxies
Image: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?p=1312
SyntaxMassive / Open / Online / Course
- Massive – networks grow - Open – networks have no edges- Online – creates the first real
networks for learning- Courses – creating temporary
networks
Image: http://themoocexperience.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/being-social-in-a-mooc/
SemanticsTheories of truth / meaning / purpose / goal
‐ Truth and belief: sense and reference ‐ Interpretation and models
(probability, logical space, frequency, wagering / strength) ‐ Learning theories: Hebbian, back‐
prop, Boltzmann ‐ Decisions: voting / consensus /
emergenceImage: https://darkjapanese.wordpress.com/tag/collocations/
SemanticsA MOOC as a way of Seeing the World
Image: http://rathchakra.wordpress.com/
- The MOOC brings together many perspectives
- No one perspective is correct or true
- The whole is created by interaction
SemanticsKnowledge is not Transmitted, it is Created
- Each piece contributes to the whole
- Each person sees the new from a certain perspective
- We feed back and forth
SemanticsWhat We Learn Depends on How We Interact
- Autonomy – each individual decides for him or her self
- Diversity – each person has their own values and goals
- Openness – new members and new ideas are welcome
- Interactivity – we learn through communication
Pragmatics
Use / actions / impact• Speech acts (J.L. Austin, Searle) assertives, directives,commissives, expressives, declarations (but also harmful acts,‐harassment, etc)• Interrogation (Heidegger) and presuppositionImage: http://ftp.tnt.uni-hannover.de/print/papers/view.php?ind=1&ord=month&mod=DESC
Pragmatics
How to Do Things With MOOCs- Educate – model and demonstrate
processes and actions- Inform – tell stories, recount
experiences- Promote - Pass on an idea or a
way of life (memetics)- Recruit – find others to join
Pragmatics
How to do things in MOOCs- Aggregate – listen to many
diverse sources- Remix – bring these different
perspective together- Repurpose – reform these new
ideas in your own way- Feed Forward – share your
perspectivesImage: http://www.lifeaftercoffee.com/2008/11/03/hello-iamthenode-and-im-here-to-make-you-vomit/
Pragmatics
What a MOOC Does- Asks questions- Experiments- Explores- Discovers- Creates
Image: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/topics/moocs/
ContextPlacement, environment
‐ explanation (Hanson, van Fraassen, Heidegger) ‐ meaning (Quine); tense ‐
range of possibilities ‐ vocabulary (Derrida);
ontologies, logical space ‐ Frames (Lakoff), worldviews
Image: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/VC/index.cfm?domain=Pattern%20Recognition
ContextPossibilities for Learning on the Internet
- The internet created a location where networks could form
- Online communities already learning in self-organizing groups
- eg. OSS, Napster…
ContextLearning in the Workplace
‐ the skills gap ‐ informal learning ‐ just-in-time learning (vs
just-in-case) ‐ learning as something we
support rather than provide
Image: http://www.goodpractice.com/blog/future-of-workplace-learning-in-2015/
CognitionReasoning, inference and explanation
• description X ‐ (definite , allegory, metaphor)
• definition X is Y ‐ (ostensive, lexical, logical (necess. & suff conds), familyresemblance, identity, personal identity, etc
• argument X therefore Y ‐ inductive, ‐deductive, abductive, modal, probability (Bayesian), deontic (obligations), doxastic (belief), etc.)
• explanation X because of Y ‐ (causal, statistical, chaotic/emergent)Image: http://www.jfsowa.com/pubs/challenge
CognitionThe Challenge of Learning Analytics
Image: http://horicky.blogspot.com/2013/01/optimization-in-r.html
‐ Analytics predict performance using neural network techniques (machine learning)- But this process requires ‘Big Data’ – with resulting privacy issues
CognitionHow do we infer someone has learned?
- Traditional testing is a very poor sort of induction
- We identify good doctors, good food, good writers by recognizing them
- In a MOOC, achievement is demonstrated in open work, and recognized by peers
ChangeGraphs / Drivers / Attractors / Forces
‐ relation and connection: I Ching, logical relation ‐ flow: Hegel historicity, ‐
directionality; McLuhan ‐ games, for example:
branch and tree, database ‐ scheduling events; ‐
activity theory / LaaNImage: http://www.motikon.com/2011/12/19/from-data-to-design/
ChangeVarieties of Change
- Easy to think things will always be the same (vs the Tipping Point)
- Cycles and Arcs- The dialectic
ChangeConsequences of Change
Image: http://www.provenmodels.com/18/four-laws-of-media/marshall-mcluhan/
- What do MOOCs and connectivism enhance?
- What do they reverse?- What thing from the past do
they retrieve and make new?- What current thing do
MOOCs make obsolete?
ChangeDrivers and (Strange) Attractors
Image: http://chaoticatmospheres.deviantart.com/art/Strange-Attractors-The-Dadras-Attractor-376066266
- We think of the future in terms of today’s imperatives: jobs, money, security
- But what is important to us today may not always be
- There’s no way to predict but we can imagine what will matter…
How I See the World
How I See the World
Stephen Downeshttp://www.downes.ca